PUSHING YOURSELF During Exercise – A Series!

Getting Out the Door to Exercise is the first and only real priority for the day, and the first article in the PUSHING YOURSELF during exercise series!

This is a series about pushing yourself (motivating yourself) while exercising. It can be applied to any exercise I guess, but in this series I’ll talk mostly about running and walking/running up steps. Those are two exercises that I do daily – one or the other.

My PUSHING YOURSELF Series Covers:

The first obstacle to getting started on a regular exercise program is just getting yourself out the door on a regular basis to exercise. There are a couple ways I’ve used in the past to get myself motivated to go exercise.

The first and maybe best step is to make exercise part of your schedule. Make a list everyday in the morning or the night before that details exactly what you want to accomplish as a minimum for the day, but I also include some extras that I’d like to get to if possible. Extras are asterisked.

It’s written in stone. There is nothing you can possibly do to change it and it must be crossed off the list for the day. It’s helpful for me if I make the list I do every morning required activities. There’s nothing on the list that isn’t going to get done. They are MUST GET DONES.

Notice that number 7, steps, is the only one that has a time next to it. Everything else is flexible, but the time I exercise is not. That’s because it isn’t going to be changed. At 5 pm. every day I leave to exercise. In the past when my schedule was less set in stone I’ve set an alarm to go off two hours before that reminds me I’m going running at a certain time. That alarm alerts me to get everything done that needs done by the time I go running and it also prepares my mind for the activity.

The second thing that makes exercising easier is that I don’t define much about what the actual workout will be. It says “steps” but, in reality it might turn into a run up the hill at a nearby park. There is an amazing hill that goes 4 km (2.5 miles) up this mountain and it’s really a great run and gives me an hour+ exercise. It’s shady and just ideal for a hard workout.

If I do the steps, how many times I climb is predicated on how I feel, nothing else. If I go to the top the first time and I feel great, then I’ll consider doing it again. I don’t plan on it until I get up and back down to the bottom to see how I feel at that point. Still great? Can you do another 1,237 steps up and back down? Have time? Do it again. I’ll repeat the process at the top the second time. Do I feel great? Good enough to do it again? I answer, but whether I do it a third time depends entirely on how I feel at the bottom after coming down the second time. Still feel great? Have time? Need to stay awake tonight for anything? (Doing it three times wipes me out pretty good and I sleep early as a result!) Do it again! Or not. I may do it once or three times – no telling by the schedule and it doesn’t matter since I don’t put any restrictions on what I do. I do a minimum of thirty minutes of exercise, but there’s no maximum. So if I feel good, I just keep going.

The third thing that makes exercising easier for me is that I am in the moment as I do it. I fully experience the exercise and I realize that it’s the most fun I could possibly be having at the time. I’d rather be exercising and fine-tuning my body for better health than anything else I can think of. I am aware of this the entire time I exercise. I really enjoy it. If I feel good and I’m really pushing – it hurts a lot more, but I’m getting a lot more done so the ego satisfaction makes it worth it. If I’m going slow – it’s easy and fun to be outdoors doing something instead of in the house not doing anything for my body.

Either way – it’s fun. Make it fun for you by not pushing when you don’t feel like pushing. Just make sure you GO and do something, even if it’s walking around a park. If you go to walk around a park then maybe after one time you feel great. Can you do two times? After two ask again – three? And so on. Next time maybe you’ll run one-hundred yards. Then walk for 600. Then run again for fifty yards. No matter WHAT you accomplish as you get started the main thing is you are accomplishing much more than sitting down at home.

Other things that may motivate you to get out the door and exercise:

Some people are motivated by the chance to meet someone of the opposite sex. This possibility does exist, maybe it’s easier at a park or along a river or boardwalk. Choose a place filled with people if that’s what drives you.

Others are motivated to start exercising among a group of people that are not competitive with them. Meaning, if you are thirty years old and overweight you don’t want to go to the local 400 m track and run circles with the high school and college kids training at the track. Better to head for a park or go where the seniors exercise. When you first start out you’ll feel much better as you’ll feel like a champ, not a loser! Make yourself the winner as often as possible.

I have a friend that loves to run in her new shoes. I don’t know what it is, but she buys new shoes often and really enjoys the whole routine of getting in her little short-shorts, tight running top and bright neon Nikes. For her running is partly about being seen. She runs at “Bayshore Blvd.” in Tampa. If you know it – there’s a sidewalk that borders over five miles of ocean and many beautiful old homes in South Tampa. I think she feels like a movie star to run there. If it works, do it!

Plan to run with other people at the same level as you are. This makes it tough to get out of because the other people will be going – and it’s harder to miss it because you’ll have social pressure to make it every day. Some people run well with others – I never have. I really enjoy running by myself but if I was starting out I think I’d find it fun to run with other slow people for a while.

Eat what you like! Part of the fun of exercising a lot – like cycling for four to seven hours or running for two hours is that you have the luxury of eating whatever you like. After a hundred mile bike ride I loved that I could eat a whole quart of coffee flavored Haagen Dazs ice-cream. Then I could have pizza for dinner. Spaghetti for a snack! If you run for an hour at a moderate pace you may burn anywhere from 450-800 calories. That’s a lot of food.

You can choose:

1. Eat just a little more and eat smart. This will cause you to lose weight gradually. Or,
2. Eat what you want to cover the number of calories you just burned. Remember, Greg Lemond, Tour de France Winner, loved his ice-cream!

The rest of this series is dedicated to motivating you to continue exercise or to push yourself while exercising. The mind needs to be overcome and sometimes tricked into pushing the body to do more. This series will deal with “PUSHING YOURSELF!”

For me it works when I prepare and keep the gear ready in place the previous night. I do it just before going to bed, if I have to go cycling early in the morning. This prepares me mentally for the next morning. If this is not done then I usually feel lazy in the morning, though getting the gear ready is a matter of less than 2 minutes.
Getting a new running gear also works to motivate me. But there is a limit to how many pairs of running shoes or t-shirts I can afford. If I am injured and off the road for a few weeks, I invariably buy something new to console myself and to help me look forward to the day I fully recover. They call it shopping therapy. It works for me.

I love it Roy – Shopping Therapy. Works for a lot of us. I’m always anxious to try out a new gear item on a run – whether it’s sunglasses, shoes, socks, shirt, or watch. I like your tips about getting stuff ready to go the prior night. I do that as well – I like to just have everything in one spot. Cheers man!